We were all excited when the NFL finally got rid of Ira “Dr. No” Casson as Co-Chair of the NFL’s “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. What surprised us was the selection of Dr. Richard Ellenbogen as co-chair of the newly-named NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee. Dr. Ellenbogen hails from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle as chief of neurological surgery and has been very proactive at the state level in legislation regarding concussions in youth athletics.

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George Visger was the perfect poster-boy for NFL brain concussions to contact Dr. Ellenbogen: Incredibly intelligent, well-spoken and very vocal as a perfect spokesman on the long-term damage from severe brain concussions that resulted directly from his career in professional football. George has been relentlessly involved with a two-pronged approach to the NFL’s concussion problem: The NFL needs to be held to the same standard as any employer in America when it comes to taking care of its injured employees – both active and retired – and clear rules need to be put in place to ensure worker safety both on and off the field. Last month, George proposed a detailed set of rules that address the most important issue facing the NFL, the NFLPA and its employees. The proposed rules were the result of collaboration among a group of retired players who worked with George to develop some guidelines that have been long overdue. We think they make a lot of sense and it covers ALL players with a common sense approach that only players with first-hand experience could develop.

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On a side note before we present the Visger Rules, we had sent a proposal to DeMaurice Smith several months back as the Amen Clinic trials was closing to see if the NFLPA would be interested in funding brain scans for active players BEFORE and AFTER they started their careers, as well as brain scans for all retired players. After seeing the need to continue helping the retired football players, Dr. Amen had graciously offered an incredibly discounted rate for any and all players sent to any of his clinics. Our proposal was simple: ALL active players would have a SPECT scan before starting their careers as well as when they retired; and ALL retired players would be allowed a brain scan as a new benefit. The cost would have been relatively minimal (considering all the money we see wasted every year as disclosed in the annual LM-2 filings) but the impact and effect would be invaluable to each and every player for a lifetime. George’s proposal goes even further: Each active player would also be required to have annual brain scans as an integral part of their mandatory checkup regimen. With the medical technology available today, each player and the Union could easily be provided with up-to-the-minute information on their entire physical condition that’s complete and accurate to help prevent further injuries. We felt that the proposal was the right thing to do and very pro-player (pro-employee – which is what Unions are supposed to be). Given the League’s recent gestures in this direction, the timing couldn’t have been better for the PA to initiate such a plan. After all, what could the League have to say against such a proactive move? This could easily be a high priority issue during any CBA negotiations which is why we felt it was important enough to present the idea directly to DeMaurice Smith. There has been absolutely NO response since the proposal was sent to them in April. We have no idea why this wouldn’t be a perfect issue for the Union (the retired AND active players’  Union) to take up with the League right now to show real unity by protecting all of its men – past and present. As with everything else, it seems we’re all still waiting just for a response…

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Clarification on the 1993 CBA and the Commencement of Revenue Sharing

Dear Mr. Smith:

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You state the following:

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A Message to NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith -

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No More Band-Aids!

You were recently quoted in the media saying, “I’ve seen consistent improvements in pensions and healthcare for our players and former players.” Are you serious?!! Gene Upshaw and the NFLPA Leadership were convicted and found guilty of “Breaching their Fiduciary Duty” and “Breach of Contract” towards retired players in a Federal Court. And certainly the NFLPA and the NFL are also guilty of Breaching their Fiduciary Duty over disability benefits. The pensions for many retired players amount to not much more than a monthly car lease payment (minus the down payment because their pensions are too small for a real car payment). Upshaw once bragged publicly in the media that under his brutal dictatorship, pensions had increased almost 50% for many of the older retirees. What he failed to mention was that their monthly pensions jumped from a shameful $139 a month to a whopping $179 a month for guys like Herb Adderley. Never mind the fact that many of our men took early pensions based on the myth perpetuated by your plan actuarial numbers done by owners through AON Consulting that stated most of us were going to be dead before the age of 55.

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When will retired players begin to receive restitution? Until that happens, NOTHING will have really changed!

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Moran vs. NFLPA and NFL Players Inc.

Does the NFLPA think the same way about you?

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Valerie Thomas

Former NFLPA Director of Human Resources Mary Moran is at WAR against the NFLPA and she is taking no prisoners. In August 2009 Moran filed a $4 million lawsuit that claimed sex discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination of her employment in violation of public policy because she participated in a DOL Office of Labor Fraud and Racketeering investigation of the NFLPA. Moran claimed that the actions of NFLPA management created serious and troubling ethical concerns for her. General Counsel Richard Berthelsen called Mary Moran “a necessary casualty.”

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Before everyone and their brother jumps in to try and take credit for it, DeMaurice Smith and his crew have been working with the NFL to protect retired players’ disability benefits during a potential lockout in 2010. So De Smith was right – without the express agreement of the NFL, retired players’ benefits could have been severely impacted by a lockout.

AAA

This just officially announced (click on the letter to enlarge for reading):

AAA

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Once in a while, we run across a piece so well-written and easy-to-understand that to try and improve on it would be a waste of time. The following is a recent post written by Jordan Kobritz in The Seymour Herald (out of Seymour, Tennessee) and we’re posting the entire piece with the kind permission of Herald Publisher Joe Karl.

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kobritz’s corner

You gotta love the PR machine that is the $7 billion-a-year juggernaut known as the NFL.

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Here’s the official NFLPA Press Release on their newly-announced Concussion & TBI Committee. We want to point out that while any movement forward is always a good thing, sometimes you have to look at what’s NOT said as much as what IS said. Read the announcement carefully and you’ll notice that they say they’re concerned about taking care of CURRENT players who are injured and they also want to study the effects to reduce or eliminate brain injuries and concussions.

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But there should have been a third item added to the announcement: The Retired Players Union will also be committed to ensuring that retired players whose brain injuries have been neglected all these years are now encouraged to re-apply for their disability benefits and their Union will stand behind them. THE NFLPA will cooperate fully with any and all investigations including the upcoming Congressional hearings.

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Over the past couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of media coverage on the effects of brain injuries and concussions in football. We’ve seen two articles from Alan Schwarz of The New York Times, as well as stories from The Washington Post and The New York Daily News:

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For the first time, the NFL and the NFLPA extended an invitation to “The Independent Retired Players” to attend and participate in a meeting called to discuss the problems that continue to plague Retirees. Bob Grant, an Independent Activist and Advocate for our cause, was asked to attend on behalf of the Retired Players.

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While much was left unaddressed at the end of this first meeting, many issues were brought into the discussion that were not a part of the original limited agenda announced by Harold Henderson (NFL Attorney), who chaired the meeting.

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Grant told the Attendees at the Meeting that the days of the NFL and the NFLPA with their “Insiders” making decisions for Retired Players without our direct participation have to end.

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I would urge every retired football player to write Judge Alsup whether you are on the (thus far) confirmed Katz/Adderley Kessler/Berthelson list of 2062 or not; there is proof of over 3,000 but it’s up to Judge Alsup to demand it as part of perjured testimony.

Many of you know you signed GLA’s but are not included in Players Inc. records managed by Players Inc. employee, Kelly Skubick, who told interviewers she took care of licensing for “over 3,000” retired players in an article published on Oct 3, 2008. Katz refused to use this information which I supplied to him in time to be used in the trial. Kelly Skubick has very recently left her $50,000+ job at Players Inc., a job she told the interviewer that she loved. I now understand that her computer with the records of over 3,000 retired players who are covered by licensing agreements may have been damaged by the convenient fire in the NFLPA offices shortly after DeMaurice Smith took office replacing Upshaw. Katz has allowed Berthelson and Kessler to continue saying only 2,062 retired players had signed GLA’s when he knew that was not true and that the Players Inc. employee who handled servicing those GLA’s on a daily basis said there are over 3,000. That, Mr. Katz, is perjury on their part as I pointed out to you shortly after I gave you that information which certainly extends any time limit problems you claim to exist.

This issue is important since it reduces the damage award in this case by 33% whatever the true amount of the award should be. That is an increase of $9.3 million raising the incorrect $28.1 million to $37.4 million while 133% of $106.9 million raises the Rowley-calculated damages to over $140 million. Since the NFLPA’s Executive Committee calls $28.1 million “Chump Change,” they need a stronger message – like $140 million from Judge Alsup’s court.

PERHAPS THE BEST OPTION IS TO PRINT THIS OUT, SIGN IT AND MAIL IT TO JUDGE ALSUP. LET HIM KNOW WE ALL CARE, WE ARE MAD AS HELL AND WE AREN’T GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE! continue reading »

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A few months ago, the media reported that newly-elected NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith had returned to D.C. from another road trip meeting with active players, only to find his office engulfed in flames. (Read that post from June HERE.) Apparently someone had left a candle burning in an adjacent bathroom late at night while the new boss was away… (?!!!) It seems that a lot of old Gene Upshaw memorabilia may have been damaged or destroyed in the fire.

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So now more news comes out to confirm that Mary Moran, the NFLPA’s highly-paid Director of Human Resources, had been placed on suspended leave  – WITH pay – a few weeks ago. Moran, daughter of Congressman Jim Moran (D-Michigan), filed a tell-all discrimination lawsuit for $4 million last week against the NFLPA and apparently also had Daddy kick off an investigation by the Dept. of Labor. While we’ve only seen snippets of the lawsuit, we understand there’s something on pretty much everyone in the lawsuit. Looks like Moran is now taking a scorched earth approach to her departure. (Read the coverage on Sports Business Journal HERE.) Talk about burning all your bridges behind you as you leave.

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Pro Football Players Re-Unification Project

No one can make an intelligent decision without being properly informed. Every one of us has advised our children, grandchildren and friends on “the value of family.”

And no one can deny that there is presently a wide gulf that separates today’s players from yesterday’s players:

1. Everyone seems to be afraid to acknowledge the difference in the racial makeup of players of yesteryear versus that of today’s Players, for fear of being accused of playing the now infamous “race card.” We have avoided open discussion on this sensitive fact. Ignoring an “eight hundred-pound Gorilla” in the room or pretending that it isn’t there will never solve the problem that each and every one of us knows exist. The open dialogue encouraged in this Project should help build a bridge that addresses this divide.
2. Secondly there is a cultural and age divide between Retired Players and Active Players that must be bridged and no bridge can be built to span that part of the gulf until we begin to openly address those issues. This Project should help build a bridge that spans the gulf at that point.
3. Finally, there is an economic divide that must be bridged. Active Players think that the Retired Players made a lot more money during their careers than they actually did, and the Players of yesteryear think that the Players today make a lot more than they actually do. In either era, if the top 20% of Players are removed from the equation used to calculate the average salaries today and yesterday, they will find that the averages are typically much lower than are represented in the media.

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The Associated Press reports this morning that 20 current and former NFL players headed to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress to help avoid a lockout in 2011 if a new CBA is not reached. (Read that article by Frederick Frommer HERE.) De Smith told reporters that the players would remind Congress about the “gifts” Congress bestows on the league, such as an antitrust exemption for broadcasting contracts. (You can also read the story on ESPN HERE.)

The AP article from Frommer stated: “It may be hard to conjure up much sympathy for football players making seven-figure salaries. But Smith noted that thousands of people are employed as stadium workers.” I almost wet my pants laughing! How stupid do they think Congress is? They’re concerned about stadium workers? How about the thousands of retired players who paved the way for those seven-figure contracts? Guys whose NFL pay was so meager – they needed to work in the off-season to make ends meet. How about the guys – including Hall of Famers – who are subsisting on NFL pensions that aren’t enough to pay their utilities bills? How about all the guys who paved the way for today’s millionaires with their knees, spines and shoulders and can’t get the disability and medical benefits that they so justly deserve?

I guess the NFLPA thinks they can shovel it because they think they got away with it a couple of years ago when they submitted the NFLPA White Paper after the Congressional hearings. It has so much misinformation and half-truths that it’s almost worthless. “The truth, without the whole truth, is meaningless and just as good as a lie!”

The Union’s actions highlight the fact that it is not just the NFL which is responsible to properly take care of retirees. The PA is the other party to the CBA and any agreements on health, disability and pension reform.

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We keep getting inquiries and comments on an almost daily basis asking about when the retired players will finally be receiving their Players Inc. settlement money. Since the settlement was first announced with great fanfare in early June at a well-covered press conference that included NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, plaintiffs’ attorney Ron Katz and plaintiff Herb Adderley, few details have been available on how, what, when, where and why. We need a Jerry Maguire to remind the NFLPA/Players Inc. to Show Us the Money!

Here are some comments from a recent e-mail from Bernie Parrish, the original plaintiff in the lawsuit:

“I have yet to find any retired player in the class – or even outside the 2,062 member class – who was consulted about the settlement before Katz accepted the strange $26.25 million deal that Kessler says he “crafted” and that Katz ordered Adderley to accept, telling Adderley it came from Latham & Watkins, a special law firm who suddenly arrived on the scene to hand Kessler’s “crafted” settlement deal to Katz…

“Adderley told the press conference he had not discussed the settlement with any other retired players because he just found out about it on Wednesday [Editor's Comment: The day before the press conference] and then met D Smith the day of the settlement press conference. And there are lots more lawyerly shenanigans where this comes from. I’ll be emailing them to you shortly.”

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Maybe we should be thanking DeMaurice Smith. After all, he signed the 2008 LM-2 even though he didn’t step into office until this Spring. Some of these items seem to be listed out in more detail than last year and there are other details that weren’t disclosed in the 2007 LM-2.

• Electronic Arts Inc. Pg. 48 Amount $29,873,436.00 (WOW! here we go again – EA paid royalties for 2008 that totaled MORE than what the entire settlement was for the Players Inc. lawsuit, folks!) (Question: Just how many retired players have current GLA agreements for Players Inc. now? Or perhaps we should say, “How few?”)
• NFL Ventures: Sports Organizations Pg. 56 Amount $41,513,624.00 (Please explain)
• Don Russ Playoff Inc. (Licensee): pg. 59 $6,715,129.00
• Octagon Football: pg. 779 Amount: $411,929.00 (What is Octagon Football?)
• Super Bowl Game (tickets?) pg 789 Amount: $289,800.00 ( Who were these tickets for?)
• Washington Redskins: Pg. 794 Amount $141,929.00 ( What is this for?)
• NFL Coaches Assoc. (Group licensing) Pg. 776 Amount $500,000.00 (Does the NFLPA also represent NFL coaches now?)
• NFL Management Council Pg. 777 Amount $221,774.00 (What could this be for?)
• Weil, Gotshal & Manages: (Attorney fees) : Pg. 794 Amount $628,646.00 (What services did they provide?)
• NFL Experience (tickets) Pg. 777 Amount $8,033.00 (Even more tickets? Heck – between all the free tickets given to the NFLPA, the Alumni AND the NFL, no wonder paid tickets cost so damn much!)
• Dewey, Leboef: (Attorney fees) Pg. 756 Amount $8,146,976 (Was this all for the Players Inc. debacle?)
• Groom Law Group (Attorney fees) Pg. 762 Amount $586,355.00 (Which part of the disability debacle is this for?)
• The Fairmont Kea Lani Maui: Pg. 798 Amount $1,369, 082.00 Nothing but the best for the NFLPA Leadership. (Guess this must this include room service?)
• The Nanny Connection (again): Hawaii: child care provider 2008 NFLPA board meeting pg. 801 Amount $7,112.00 (How many children were each NFLPA leader allowed to bring?)
• NFLPA Board Meeting (United Airlines) Pg. 805 Amount $322,399,00 (These were first class seats? Just exactly how many people do they have?)
• Ritz- Carlton Hotel: Puerto Rico NFLPA Retired Players 2008 convention Pg. 803 Amount $227,040,00 (Steering Committee: Where’s the next meeting?)
• Gaguas, Puerto Rico: NFLPA Retired players 2008 convention Pg. 799 Amount $28,255.00 (Is this another child care expense or…?)
• Retired Chapters Officers Meeting Pg. 799 Amount $52,806.00 (Where did this important meeting take place? We KNOW we didn’t spend this much to put on our entire Summit!)

Find any other juicy LM-2 goodies that we need to point out? Drop us a line!

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